Home loan approvals in the UK climbed to a four-month high in September as the central bank’s Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) boosted the availability of mortgages, Bloomberg reported.
Last month, banks granted 50,024 loans compared with 47,921 (revised) in August, announced the Bank of England. This is notably higher than the earlier prediction of 48,700 approvals based on a median forecast of 18 economists in Bloomberg’s survey.
At the same time, net mortgage lending recorded £491 million (S$965.84 million) in September.
As mortgage approvals rose, home prices fell in October for the fourth month said Hometrack Ltd, adding that property market recovery is unlikely without any sustained economic growth.
“The decline in house prices should be limited by recent healthy employment growth and low interest rates, while mortgages could become increasingly available helped by the FLS,” said Howard Archer, economist at IHS Global Insight in London.
“However, we are doubtful that the economy can grow fast enough on a sustained basis in the near term at least to really help the housing market,” he added.
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